A standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/sequencing workflow generally includes five steps requiring reagent addition: an initial PCR step, a PCR clean-up step, a sequencing step, a sequencing cleanup step, and electrophoresis. The PCR step involves amplification of a template polynucleotide using amplification primers and a thermo-stable DNA polymerase enzyme. The PCR cleanup step is commonly done by the addition of exonuclease I and alkaline phosphatase, followed by incubation, and subsequent heat-inactivated to inactivate the enzymes. A standard PCR/sequencing workflow is illustrated in FIG. 1A.
A typical PCR reaction uses an excess of amplification primers, some primers remain unincorporated upon completion of the PCR reaction. This necessitates removal of the excess primers before proceeding to a sequencing reaction, because the excess amplification primers will interfere with the subsequent sequencing reaction. The PCR reaction furthermore contains an excess of dNTPs that can interfere with the subsequent sequencing reaction. The hydrolytic properties of exonuclease I which degrades single-stranded DNA present in the PCR mixture allows the amplification product (amplicon) to be used more efficiently in subsequent sequencing applications. The enzyme activity of alkaline phosphatase dephosphorylates free dNTPs remaining from the PCR reaction. After an appropriate incubation period, the exonuclease I and alkaline phosphatase enzymes are heat inactivated before adding sequencing primer, dNTPs, and dye-labeled ddNTPs; otherwise the enzymes would degrade these reagents and the sequencing reaction products.
Without adequate exonuclease I treatment to remove excess PCR amplification primers, aberrant sequence ladders can be generated. An excess of dNTPs can produce a weak sequencing signal and/or short sequence reads. The need to obtain high quality sequence results at base 1 from the sequencing primer is also often difficult. The transition from amplification to efficient sequencing has made high quality 5′ sequence resolution and clean-up of unincorporated dNTPs and amplification primers a priority to obtain clean sequencing results.
Resolution of nucleic acid sequence near the sequencing primer has been difficult to obtain without sacrificing throughput residence time during electrophoresis with POP7™ polymer. Adjustments in the type of mobility system, for example, using the POP6™ polymer matrix, adjusting denaturing conditions and temperature can improve resolution but always at the expense of increased electrophoresis time as POPE polymer requires longer electrophoresis time. Difficulties in removal of unincorporated reactants and long residence time when performing size-dependent mobility separation contribute to inefficiencies in nucleic acid sequencing. A need exists for improved methods for the PCR/sequencing and PCR/fragment analysis workflow and sequence resolution following PCR amplification.